The present invention relates to a gripper for grasping objects and, more particularly, to a sealed gripper for holding work pieces in adverse environments.
Grippers are commonly used in conjunction with robots in industrial applications for picking, placing and fixturing work pieces during the various steps of manufacturing a final component. Typical grippers include pneumatically or hydraulically actuated cylinders, which cause one or more arms to move through a desired range of motion to grasp a work piece.
Unfortunately, when a mechanism such as a gripper is to be sealed to prevent ingress of contamination, one or more design features are often compromised. Specifically, a sealed mechanism is usually much larger than its unsealed counterpart due to the requirements of internal levers, cams and seals. Additionally, in the case of the gripper, it is often difficult to seal rotating hubs without increasing the size of the overall packaging envelope.
In accordance with the present invention, a gripper includes a body, an actuator movably supported by the body, and a first hub rotatably supported by the body where the first hub rotates about a transverse axis. The gripper also includes a drive arm having a camming surface. The drive arm is coupled to the first hub so as to be rotatable about the transverse axis. A member drivingly interconnects the camming surface and the actuator such that an arm coupled to the first hub operably moves in response to the actuator.